Discovered the parish record of an ancestor buried at Hindley in 1718, the cause of death written as PARALATIK. I first thought it may be paralytic, possibly alcoholism, but it appears the proper meaning of paralytic is paralysis. Anyone out there come across this term and knows its eighteenth century meaning.

hilly been doing my family history and an ancestor had a paralitic episode as cause of death.

this I believe is a stroke, thats my interpretation

Samuel Johnson's 18th century dictionary.

‘Struck with a palsy ‘

Thank you, both. Looks like that all ties in, possibly a stroke with its atendent paralysis. That will do for me. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

On a similar quest for old medical descriptions, what exactly is a "seizure?" A heart attack or cerebral hemorrhage? (stroke)

A seizure usually means an epileptic fit...but can also mean a stroke.

Ah, so the mystery deepens. I believe my paternal grandfather suffered a seizure, way back in '37, no other info though.